


Ashes Rising

by songofdefiance



Series: This Won't End With A Whimper [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Character Death Fix, F/F, Fix-It, Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 15:54:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18854254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songofdefiance/pseuds/songofdefiance
Summary: It all started with a red hoodie.Ava never let go of that hoodie.  Not even after Sharon and the others turned to dust.  Not even after she decided to become an Avenger.





	Ashes Rising

**Author's Note:**

> HERE WE GO, another fix-it. A much longer one.
> 
> I don't think you need to read the rest of the series to understand this, but it would help immensely - to understand who Ava is and how Natasha knows her, to understand the kind of relationship that Natasha and Yelena have, as well as the one Natasha and Sharon have. The immediate fic before this one, Breathe, is probably enough to give you some idea as to what's happening, though. That's one is pretty short.
> 
> In short: Endgame fucking broke me, I'll never forgive me, here's the Drip-verse fix-it for it. Fair warning: I wasn't particularly kind to Hawkeye in this fic. It doesn't fix everything Endgame did wrong (and I believe his arc was one of those things) - just stuff focused on Natasha, mostly.
> 
> Also I put some Agents of SHIELD characters in this. Because I can.
> 
> Enjoy!

_ They were underground. _

_ Ava’s foster parents owned a house with a basement, which she avoided going into when she could.  Being underground, unable to see the sun or the sky, reminded her too much of the Red Room. Now, they were underground once again.  For a good reason, it was true, but Ava still shivered. _

_ She sat on top of her sleeping bag, her knees drawn to her chest.  She wondered if her parents were alright. She didn’t think they’d be arrested just because Ava had had to run away.  She thought of the way her mother had cried when she had said her farewells, and how her father told her to be strong.   _

_ “You’ll be alright,” he said.  “We know that.” _

_ Footsteps. _

_ Ava looked up just as Sharon sat down next to her, leaning her back against the cement wall.  Ava had chosen to put her sleeping bag and mattress pad in the corner. She knew that the other girls weren’t the same as they were in the Red Room, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave her back open to them just yet. _

_ She still couldn’t stop shivering.  It was cold, and her thin pajamas did little to protect her from it.  She stilled as Sharon draped something around her shoulders. _

_ “Thank you,” she croaked out. _

_ “Well, I can’t stand to see you shivering like this,” Sharon said quietly, smiling.  “How are you feeling?” _

_ “I ache,” Ava replied. _

_ She had said goodbye to her mother and father, but she hadn’t been able to say goodbye to her friends from school.  Ava kept wishing she could’ve brought them with, somehow, but she knew that it wasn’t safe for them.  _

_ “I know,” Sharon said.  “I’m sorry.” _

_ “Why?  It is not your fault.” _

_ Sharon sighed heavily.  “Nat and I - we should’ve seen this coming.  We should’ve known that Ross might have his eye on you all, that he might use the Sokovia Accords as an excuse to get his hands on you.  He’d been expressing interest since we got you out of the Red Room. It’s only because of Pepper’s army of lawyers that he didn’t get his way.” _

_ “Then it is his fault,” Ava said decisively, curling her hands into fists.  She looked around the room, at the others who were probably pretending to be asleep.  Emily and Vivian and Katrine (207 and 243 and 222) and fifteen others. All girls, still.  All around the age of sixteen.  _

_ All now hunted by the U.S. government.   _

_ Ava glanced down at what Sharon had draped around her shoulders.  A red hoodie. She slipped it on, putting her arms through the sleeves and pulling the hood over her head. _

_ “Thank you,” she said. _

_ “You’re welcome,” Sharon answered.  “It’s going to be tough, for a while.  I don’t know for how long. We’ve gotta help each other out when we can, right?” _

_ Katrine’s eyes were open, fixed on Ava.  Ava stared back. Katrine gave a nod. _

_ “Right,” Ava said.    
_

* * *

 

By the time the quinjet touched down in front of her, Ava was drenched.  

It was pouring in Seattle.  The rain didn’t seem to stop - hadn’t stopped, since it had started.  It had started four hours ago. Twenty minutes after the... whatever it was.  

She was wearing her red hoodie.  She pulled it more tightly around herself as the ramp of the quinjet was lowered.  Her bag was sopping wet. Everything inside it was likely also soaked. Her phone, her sleeping bag, her toiletries.  Her clothes. Her feet squished inside her shoes as she shifted from foot to foot.

Natasha was the first to come down the ramp.  The blond hair was familiar; Natasha had met up with them at least once while she was using it as her disguise.  She hurried forward, her face paler than usual, and grasped Ava’s shoulders. 

“Are you hurt?” she asked.

Ava shook her head.  Natasha’s grip tightened on Ava’s shoulders, as though she was using them to keep herself upright - but no, surely that couldn’t be right.  The Black Widow would never allow someone to see her that way. She used quips and danced away from certain topics like it was an art form. 

How much had changed?  

“Come on,” Natasha said, steering her towards the quinjet.  Ava stole another look at her. It couldn’t be... but she wasn’t trying to hide it.  Natasha was exhausted, and beaten, and there was a look of lingering horror in her eyes.  Ava recognized it because it was exactly what she had been feeling for the past four hours.  

There were other Avengers on the quinjet.  Steve Rogers. Bruce Banner. James Rhodes.  Thor. All with the same look in her eyes. It seemed that the Event was impossible to put in a box.

Ava sat heavily in one of the seats, letting her bag fall to the floor with a ‘thud’ beside her.  Natasha crouched in front of her. Ava stared at her, feeling like she was almost falling through herself -

_ Sharon crouched in front of her.  “Are you alright?” she asked gently. _

“You should take off the hoodie,” Natasha said.  “It’s soaked. You’ll only be colder.”

Ava shook her head.  It didn’t even occur to her to agree.  With it on, she could almost feel Sharon at her side, reassuring her that everything would be alright.  That one day she’d be able to see her parents again, her friends, that someday the Sokovia Accords would be lifted and they’d be free to go back home.

“My parents,” she whispered.

Natasha’s expression didn’t change.  “I’ll check,” she promised.

She moved away from Ava after that, leaving Ava with water pooling around her.  She could hear a quiet conversation between Natasha and the rest of the Avengers.  She could feel their worried glances on her skin. She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them, burying her face in her soggy jeans.

She’d stood in the rain all those hours to wash off the dust, but her hands still felt grimy.

* * *

 

The Avengers compound was too large, and too quiet.  Ava wandered through its wide open spaces. Rooms meant for training, several kitchens, several rec rooms.  Her mind still spun from the meeting they had all had, just a few hours ago. 

Half of the planet, vanished.  Countless more dead because of the disappearances.  The rest of the Avengers were coordinating with whoever they could get into contact with in order to do damage control, but they were short-staffed.  Ava was not an Avenger. There was nothing she could do. 

In the middle of one of the gyms, her eyes landed on a punching bag.  She went and stood in front of it before giving it one half-hearted punch, wincing when her knuckles landed awkwardly.  Such sloppiness wouldn’t have been tolerated by Madame B. 

She still wore the hoodie, now clean and dry.  

(“I’m sorry, Ava,” Natasha said, voice steady.  “I haven’t been able to get ahold of your parents.”)

Ava squeezed her eyes shut, shook herself, and left the room.  

She was heading down the hallway that led back to the campus apartments when she bumped into someone.  

Ava mumbled an apology, glancing up at whoever it was.  She didn’t know what to think of the strange blue woman who stood before her, now studying her with a curious expression.  

“Who are you?” the woman asked.

Ava paused.  She was in a world very different from everything she’d known before, now.  This wasn’t the Red Room, nor was it her home in New York City, nor was it one of the many places she and the rest of her sisters (as they had begun to call themselves) had hidden after the Sokovia Accords.  No, this was the place where aliens were normal.

“My name is Ava,” she said.  “Who are you?”

“Nebula.”

There was a long silence, after that.  Taking that as a dismissal, Ava kept moving down the hallway.  She could feel Nebula watching her the entire way.

The sun was starting to set as she entered her own apartment.  It was devoid of any decoration. She almost wouldn’t recognize it as hers if it weren’t for the battered backpack that sat on the kitchen counter.  She made her way over to the freezer, which was stocked with frozen meals, and opened it.

She stared at its contents without really seeing any of it, and then closed the freezer again.  

A knock came from the door.

“Ava?”

For a moment, Ava was seized by the urge to pretend that she wasn’t there.  Then she thought about being under the illusion that she was alone in this huge, too-quiet place.  

“Come in,” she said.

It was Natasha, again.  “Hey,” she said. “Just... wondered if you’d like to have dinner with the rest of us.”

Dinners with Sharon and her sisters weren’t always healthy, but they were always lively.  At the beginning, Ava had not considered that those other girls could be her friends. But there something to being able to mock their shared situations with someone who understood.  

She’d give anything to be able to have dinner with them all again.

“I am not hungry,” she said.

Natasha was not the one who was there.  Sometimes? Yes. But not all the time. Not like Sharon was.  Natasha, instead, continued to go out into the world to fight, to save people who couldn’t save themselves.  

Ava didn’t resent her for that.  But Natasha was not Sharon.

She hugged herself.  “I am sorry,” she whispered.

Natasha quirked her mouth into a half smile at her words, her eyes almost unbearable to look at.  “What for?” she asked.

Ava laughed, which turned into a sob.  She clapped a hand over her mouth. There was no box to put this in.

Natasha looked at her like she knew.  Ava turned away.

“Okay,” Natasha said, and there was no judgment in her voice.  “We’re in Kitchen Two, if you change your mind. Just ask Friday how to get there.”

She left, shutting the door behind her.  Ava fell to her knees and let out a wretched cry, tears streaming down her cheeks.

* * *

 

“I want to go.”

Ava’s voice was calm, but she was shaking with anger.  She counted the people boarding the Benatar - Steve Rogers, James Rhodes, Rocket, Nebula, Carol Danvers, Thor, Bruce Banner.  So many people, and they still might not be a match for Thanos. They were going to need all the help they could get.

Except Natasha was there, blocking her way.

“You’re not an Avenger,” Natasha replied, stone-faced.  “You’re barely even an adult. You haven’t been actively training - “

“I have!  We all practiced - “

“Not for this,” Natasha interrupted.  “Thanos is... he’s not Yelena, or Madame B.  You can’t fight him. We can. Let us handle this.”

Ava shook.  “You are going to leave me here,” she accused.

Natasha didn’t move, didn’t change her expression.  Flatly, she said, “That’s a low blow.”

Ava didn’t reply.

“Pepper’s staying here.  You won’t be alone.”

“I do not know her.”

“You barely know me.”

There was a ring of truth to those words that Ava didn’t want to hear.  It was always Sharon she went to when she needed advice, when she wanted to talk to someone other than her foster parents.  It was Sharon who had been her constant companion for two years. She and Natasha interacted sometimes, and she knew a little about her, but that was it.

Natasha sighed.  “I can’t promise that we’ll come back,” she said.  “But I promise I’ll try. Okay?”

It wasn’t, but Ava nodded anyway.  She watched as Natasha was the last to board the Benatar.  She watched it take off, hot air hitting her face as the engines started up, and tried to stop her hands from shaking so badly.  She looked down at them, and they were still covered in dust. She wondered if she’d inhaled some after the Event had happened. 

She probably had.

* * *

 

_ Year One _

Ava’s back hit the mat, knocking the breath out of her.  Months and months of sparring, and training, and she was still no match for Natasha.  

It was just her and Natasha, in the deserted gym.  It had just been the two of them at the Compound, with the occasional visits from Steve or Bruce, for a year now.  One year since Thanos was killed by Thor. One year since almost everyone Ava had ever loved vanished from her life.  One year since she, for the first time, wished that she hadn’t survived the Red Room.

One year, and she was angry.

Anger was good, Madame B had told her, so very long ago.  Anger could be used. Channeled into action. So that’s what she did: she trained, and she sparred, and she focused everything on getting stronger.  

She took Natasha’s offered hand up, letting her pull her to her feet.  

Natasha smirked.  “I think you almost got me that time.”

Ava bounced on the balls of her feet, scowling.  “Do not lie to me.” She went over to the side of the ring, taking a few gulps of water from her water bottle.  She closed it and threw it back on the floor with a little bit more force than was necessary. “Let’s go again.”

Natasha frowned.  “We usually only go five rounds.  We’ve gone six today.”

“ _ Again _ .”  Ava settled into a stance.

Natasha sighed.  “Don’t suppose I’m allowed to tap out?”

Ava lunged for her.  She struck out with a quick right jab to Natasha’s face, which Natasha twisted under.  Ava jumped back in time to avoid Natasha’s counter strike, but quickly found herself in the same situation yet again: her barely being able to keep up with Natasha’s blows, pulling out all the stops to get the upper hand.  She managed to plant her foot in Natasha’s gut at one point, but Natasha grabbed her leg and slammed her into the mat again. 

“We’re  _ done _ ,” Natasha said, more forcefully this time.  Ava stood up on her own, scowling, but nodded.

She retrieved her water bottle from the floor, wincing when her bruises from the previous day protested the movement.  Natasha did not waste a single moment, and she did not go easy on Ava. Which was fine. Ava was not sure she would be able to forgive Natasha if she did.  

Natasha followed her out of the ring, grabbing her own water bottle and taking a long swig.  “I’m gonna go shower,” she said, as though it were not the obvious thing to do. “Then I’ve got this week’s meeting.  You coming?”

“Yes,” Ava said.  She’d been training for a year now, and yet Natasha still refused to let her go out there and do any actual work.  Aside from volunteering in Hettersville, the little town near the Avengers compound. These meetings were the closest she could get to her goal; she did not intend to miss a single one.

“Okay, then.”  Natasha lifted a hand, like she wanted to grasp Ava’s shoulder, but she let it fall back down to her side.  “Go get something to eat, or I’m not letting you in the meeting.”

Natasha swept out of the gym before Ava could reply to that.  Ava huffed, but grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off of her brow and neck.  Ordinarily she’d do her daily run after sparring, but she didn’t have enough time to eat and run before the meeting.

On the way to the kitchen, she passed through the atrium.  She paused there, staring at the ‘A’ that was stamped over her head.  Her hands curled into fists, and she felt the familiar mix of anger and determination she’d been feeling ever since Natasha had flown off to some faraway planet without her.  Getting vengeance without her.

One day.  She would get there one day.

She drained the rest of her water bottle before she reached Kitchen Two, which was the kitchen she and Natasha used.  The rest were empty of any food, and Friday had rerouted the power to be used elsewhere.

Ava blinked in surprise when she found fresh strawberries in the fridge.  Then she remembered that the previous week was the first week that the farmer’s market in Hettersville had been open since the Decimation.  Steve had stopped by there before his last visit and brought the strawberries back for them, along with several other kinds of fresh fruit. 

“There,” he’d said.  “Now you have no excuse not to eat healthy.”

Natasha had stuck her tongue out at him.  Ava had looked down at her feet, unsure of how to participate in the conversation.

Still, she ended up pulling out the carton of strawberries and piling a few on her plate, in addition to heating up a container of leftover curry.  Curry and pasta were the only two things she knew how to cook, but both dishes were able to give her and Natasha basic nutrients if she put the right ingredients in.  And she had no intention of ever giving Natasha the chance to try her hand at cooking.

The curry was a little more bland than she would’ve liked (they’d run out of spice and imports of many products had yet to start coming in to America), but she ate it as quickly as she could.  The strawberries were startling. She had almost expected them to taste like ash, which was what she often expected of fresh food lately, but they were... well, good. Eating them, she would not know anything was wrong in the world.

Ava rinsed out the dishes, dumped them in the dishwasher, and headed for the conference room.

Well, less of a conference room and more Natasha’s office, these days.

Ava always sat in a chair off to the side during the meetings, in the peripheral vision of the people who were reporting in.  She would receive greetings, sometimes. From Okoye, who always had a warm smile for her, even if it had been shaky the first few months.  From Nebula, who would nod in her direction. From Rhodey, who seemed to have some kind of soft spot for her. From Carol, though her greetings were stilted and awkward, as though she did not know how to act around Ava.

Of course, it wasn’t always the same people every week.

“Who is meeting us this time?” asked Ava, settling into her chair.  Natasha, who was already showered and sitting behind the desk, looked up from the reports she was sorting through.

“Huh?” she said distractedly.  “Oh. This week we’ve got Okoye, Rhodey, the Guardians, and Mack.”

Ava blinked in surprise.  “No Carol?”

“Nah.  She’s busy helping with the relief efforts on some planet in the Trivinian System.”

Ah, yes.  The relief efforts never ended.  Ava wished that she was allowed to help with those, too.

A moment later four holograms popped up.  On the left were Rocket and Nebula, both of whom looked a little worse for wear.  Next to them was Rhodey, who looked tired but otherwise fine. Okoye was beside him, in the same state.  Last but not least, sporting a sling around her right arm, was a battered and grim Melinda May.

Ava straightened.  She had only met Melinda May the once, after the remains of S.H.I.E.L.D. stopped by the compound to get an idea of the damage the Decimation had caused.  She had been a woman who seemed to almost suffocate underneath the grief she felt. So not unlike the rest of them.

Natasha sat up, too.  “May, what the hell? Where’s Mack?”

“Damage control,” May reported, and it was clear that she was speaking through gritted teeth.  “Watchdog remnants bombed a refugee center that welcomed Inhumans. We got there before they did, and got everyone out.  Yo-Yo and I got caught up in it.”

“Fuck,” Natasha hissed.

“Damn,” Rocket said.  “Can’t these Watchdog pricks learn to chill?  You’d think they would have other things to worry about.”

“Be great if we could have Quake right about now,” Rhodey said.  

“Yeah, well, we don’t,” May snapped.  “I have to go, we still have to figure out how to relocate the refugees.”  She nodded at Natasha. “Mack’ll send a report to you when he has the time.”

“What about Yo-Yo?” Natasha asked.

“She’ll live,” May answered, then hung up.  

Okoye was the first to speak into the silence that followed.  “How is it that they always seem to get into twice as much trouble as the rest of us?”

“They’re more underground,” Natasha answered wearily.  “They’re still an intelligence agency, whatever else they might be.  We’re more... above board. Anybody else got anything urgent?”

“Not from us,” Nebula said.  “That lead you sent us on didn’t pan out.”

Natasha sighed.  “Okay. Okay, thanks for looking into it anyway.  Take a few days off. Get some rest. You both look like you could use it.”

“Eugh,” Rocket mumbled.  “Vacation. Where are we even gonna go on this dump of a planet?”

“We live here now,” Nebula reminded him.  

“Couldn’t let me stay in my happy place where we don’t do that?”

They hung up after that.  Ava thought she saw the tiniest curve of a smile on Natasha’s face at their bickering.  Ava felt her frown deepen, remembering echoes of that same sort of good-natured bickering between herself and her sisters.  

There was a lump in her throat.  Ava forced it down.

“Negotiations are proceeding,” Okoye said, the next to speak.  “I cannot say that they are proceeding well, but they are proceeding.  Wakanda and the other countries of this world should have a food distribution system set up in a way that will benefit everyone soon.  Though it will not be easy for us to convince the billionaires and wealthy to acquiesce to this arrangement.”

“Threaten them with your spear,” Natasha suggested.

Okoye snorted.  “I wish,” she said.  “That is all I have. At the very least, the negotiations have been peaceful.  Everyone seems too tired for violence.”

Ava stared at her hands and wondered what it would be like to feel that way.

“Ava?”

She looked up, forcing a smile onto her face.  

“Hello Okoye,” she said.  

“Are you well?” Okoye asked.  

“Very,” Ava replied.  “Natasha is keeping me on my toes.”

Okoye laughed.  “I should hope so.  Have a good day, ladies.”

Natasha thanked her.  Ava echoed her. That left only Rhodey, who was almost always last during these meetings.  Ava looked away from him. She did not wish to hear what he had to say. Did not wish to see the look on Natasha’s face when he told her what would inevitably be bad news.  

“No sign of him,” Rhodey said.  

“I didn’t think there would be,” Natasha replied.

Ava did not understand Natasha’s fixation on Clint Barton.  He was her friend, she knew. She owed him some kind of debt.  But he did not come looking for her. Even if his family was gone, he did not come to them.  Instead, he ran.

Ava did not have a very high opinion of Clint Barton.

This was what the disappearance of billions of people did.  It did not just make people vanish - it also made the ones who remained into twisted people, strangers to themselves.  Oh, Natasha was acting, continuing to do what she could to protect the Earth, but she had none of the jokes. None of the sharp, dangerous smiles and obscure references.  Even one year later, Ava did not recognize her.

(She did not recognize herself, either.)

Rhodey finally left the meeting as well, leaving only her and Natasha in the room.  Ava stood immediately.

“I am going for my run,” she announced.

“Be careful,” Natasha said.  

Ava snorted.  “What is going to attack me?” she asked.  “Chitauri? Outriders? Yelena Belova?”

Natasha stiffened at that last name.  

“I will be fine,” Ava said.  Her stomach twisted. Natasha’s expression was blank, but something about her was... off.

“Yeah,” she said shortly.  “You will.”

* * *

 

_ Year Two _

The tac suit felt strange.

In the Red Room, they were never given armor of any kind.  Ava learned to fight with her bare hands, with only normal clothes on her back.  Meaning that Ava never learned how to fight with something weighing her down, like the suit did.  

“We’re going to train you while you’re wearing you this for at least a few months before I’m letting you into the field,” Natasha had warned her.  “It’s heavier than it looks. It won’t make you slower, but it will tire you out more quickly. You need time to adjust to it.”

Now, Ava was crouched in the shadow of a warehouse in Charleston, South Carolina.  The gun in her hand was more familiar than the tac suit; Natasha had trained her in firearms long before she trained her to fight with it on.  She also had several knives at her belt and another gun. 

“You at the back door?” Natasha asked her over the comm.

“Yes.”

“Good,” Natasha said.  “Show time, then. Remember: stick to the plan.  Get in, get what we need, get out. Try to avoid crossing anyone off if you can, but if it’s a choice between you and someone else?  Pick yourself. That’s an order.”

“Understood.”

They were there to bust a weapon trafficking ring.  There had not been very many since the Decimation, but as time passed, criminals began to get bolder.  Now, with the local law enforcement still lacking enough manpower to stop them, Natasha had decided to take action.  

And she had asked Ava to come along.

There was one sentry standing guard at the back door to the warehouse.  Distantly, Ava could hear shouts from the front of the building. The guard heard them as well, and the moment his attention was elsewhere, Ava struck.

She slipped from the shadows and fired her I.C.E.R. at his back.  Two shots, and he went down without a sound. Ava searched his body, going through his pockets until she found a pass key.  She used it to unlock the door and slip inside. 

Ava crept along the wall of the warehouse, noting the stockpiles of semi-automatics and even a few rocket launchers.  It was all but deserted; almost everyone was dealing with Natasha out front. There was a desk to Ava’s right; a makeshift office for whoever was in charge of this operation.  

She stayed low and headed for the desk, rifling through papers and drawers.  She came out with several flash drives. Ava allowed herself a triumphant grin, before a whimper made her pause.

She peered over the edge of the desk, and nearly swore.  The weapons stockpiles had blocked her view from the back door, but now she could see the cages that lined the wall.

Ava vaulted the desk, glancing toward the front entrance.  Natasha had told her that she would have five minutes to get the data and get out, but she needed more time than that.  She sprinted for the door of the warehouse, then melted back into the shadows as she neared the front door.

It was thrown open wide, with the gangsters gathered around the door, yelling and shooting at something they couldn’t seem to be able to hit.  Only one of the large doors was actually open. Ava got close to it, took a deep breath, and pushed it shut.

She barely got the lock into place before three heavy, male bodies slammed into it, causing the door to shudder.  Ava ran for the desk once again. The clock was ticking, and she wouldn’t have much time.

She searched, and searched, but she couldn’t find the key.  

“Hello?”

Ava glanced up.  One of the caged children was staring at her.  Ava could not place her accent. 

“He keeps the key on him at all times,” the girl whispered.

Ava let out several Russian curses.  Thinking quickly, she hissed, “Can anyone here pick locks?”

One of the children - an older boy - nodded, scooting forward in his cage.  

“Okay,” Ava said.  She took out both of her hairpins, then handed one to him.  “Get yourself out,” she ordered. “Then start working on everyone else.”  There were eight cages. How long would it be before the gangsters realized that she came in the back way?  Thinking quickly, Ava hurried to the back door and shoved a crate against it before she got back to work on the cages.

Noise crackled in her ear.  “Ava?” Natasha asked. “What are you doing?”

“There are children here.”

There was a long pause, during which Ava guessed that Natasha was swearing as well.

“Can you get them out?”

Ava had already pushed two pins into alignment on the cage of the first girl who’d spoken.  “Yes,” she said, biting her lip. “But I do not know how long that will take.”

“Did you barricade the back door?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.  Keep working, I’ll look for another way in.”

“Understood.”

The final pin clicked into place, and the first girl was free.  She clambered out of the cage and stood on shaky legs, looking like a foal standing up for the first time.  Ava didn’t waste any time; she just moved on to the next cage. The boy opened his own shortly after, and then focused on a second one.  

Ava didn’t jump when someone landed next to her with a thud, though several of the children did.  

“I’ll cover the back entrance,” Natasha said, pulling out her batons and moving away.

Five minutes in, and they only had four cages open.  The gangsters had abandoned the front door and were now trying to get into the back.  The crate was holding, but it would not continue to do so for long.

Then the shooting started.  

“Get behind the desk!” Ava ordered to those that had been freed.  They obeyed. She did not let the gunshots distract her, staying focused on opening the cages.  After an agonizing few minutes, they were down to just one cage. Once it was open, Ava finally let herself worry about how they were going to escape.  

“We need to go,” she said to the children.  She herded them to the front door, hoping that the number of thugs that were still there had dwindled.  She gestured for the children to stay hidden, then (as quietly as she could) she unbarred the door. 

No one tried to open it, so that was something.

Carefully, she pushed it open a crack.  There were three men standing there, and they all fired at her.

Ava slammed the door closed again.  The bullets bounced off of it.

“Fuck,” she hissed.  

“Rocket launcher?” the girl who had first spoken suggested.

“Grenade would be better,” Ava said, but she didn’t have many choices.  She hurried over to where the bazookas were lined up and grabbed one. Old memories guided her hands as she loaded it, her brain having automatically catalogued the many, many weapons she had assembled and disassembled in the Red Room.

“Get away from the door,” she ordered, making sure the children were all a few steps back.

It was a quick moment, but to Ava it felt too slow.  She cracked open the door again, just enough to stick the bazooka through it, and then fired.  After firing, she threw herself against the door with all her might, but was thrown backwards along with it, crashing into a crate.

Her chest erupted in pain.

She heard another explosion from the back of the warehouse, followed by yelling.  She forced herself to her feet, shoving the children ahead of her out the front door.  She led them away from the warehouse, her heart pounding as she wondered what had happened to Natasha, the adrenaline in her mouth pushing her past the pain.  

When they finally made it to the quinjet, she made sure that all eight of them were inside before collapsing on the ramp.

* * *

 

_ Year Three _

Ava was about to walk into the kitchen when she heard it.

She froze in the doorway.  Natasha was sitting at the kitchen island.  She sounded like she was choking. Her back was to Ava, so Ava couldn’t see her face.  Ava did not know what to do. She tugged at the hem of her shirt and chewed on her lip, until her stomach gurgled loudly, making her decision for her.  

The moment she entered, Natasha stopped.  Ava did not look at her, opening the fridge and being careful to keep her back to her.  She pulled out a container of blueberries and then sat across from Natasha at the island, popping them in her mouth.

Was it really so simple to just...

“What is it?” Ava asked.

Natasha had her phone in front of her.  Her eyes were suspiciously red, but there was no sign of tears on her face.  She looked at Ava with an unreadable expression, before sliding her phone across the island to her.

“Just hit the play button,” she said.  Her voice was hoarse.

Ava frowned, eating another blueberry while she considered, but in the end she did as Natasha said.

“Hi, Nat.”

Ava stiffened.  

A sigh.  “I... missed your call.  Sorry about that. We were still settling into the new place.  You’d like it. It really sells you on the whole abandoned-building thing.  It’s big, though. The girls are excited to explore. Could do with some central heating.  It’s damp, and not exactly warm.”

Ava couldn’t move, couldn’t even breathe.

“This is never gonna get any easier, is it?”  Sharon’s voice was a whisper. “How long are we gonna have to do this?  These girls - they deserve better than me. They deserve to go home, to their parents.  They deserve to have real lives. God knows they didn’t get them before.”

A pause.

“And I miss you,” Sharon confessed brokenly.  “We... we get to meet up with each other every few months, maybe?  And every time I see some news about... you know... I just...”

A deep breath.

“Wow,” Sharon said, laughing a bit.  “I sound pathetic. Sorry. Anyway, usually I’d just text you so that we can set up a call at a different time, but... I saw.  About Wakanda. And I know that, whatever’s going down, you’re gonna be there. Which, frankly, is bullshit. You’re not supposed to fight alien invasions without me.

“Whatever it is, the girls are safe.  Well, as safe as they can be. Hell, we’re on the other side of the world.  They can’t touch us here, right?”

Ava buried her face in her hands.

“I know you won’t listen to me, you self-sacrificial maniac,” Sharon said, the affection in her voice loud and clear.  “But... try to be careful, okay? If some rando alien manages to stab you Barton’ll never let you live it down.”

Another pause.

“I love you.”

Ava waited for a few more seconds, before glancing at the phone.  The message had ended. She glanced at Natasha to see her staring at the phone as well, like she was willing it to ring.

“I’m sorry,” Natasha finally said, looking at her.  “I should’ve shown you this earlier.”

Ava stared at her.  “It was meant for you.”

“Maybe,” Natasha replied.  “But you loved her.”

“Not the same way.”

“No,” and now Natasha’s voice hardened.  “But it was just as important. You deserved to hear this a long time ago.  I was selfish.”

Ava laughed wetly, and realized that there were tears streaming down her face.  “I think you are allowed to be a little selfish in this case, Natasha.”

Natasha looked down at her hands, which twisted around each other.

“I haven’t been very good at this,” she admitted.  “If Sharon were here, she’d kick my ass for it, serum or no.”

Ava looked at the woman who had taken her under her wing for the past three years, training her, making sure she wasn’t alone in the world.  Quietly, she said, “I think she would understand your grief. I spent all of my time with Sharon, and the other girls. You did not get that chance.  You are allowed to keep one little message to yourself.”

The corner of Natasha’s mouth quirked.  “Listen to you. You don’t have to do that, you know.  Maybe I should’ve said this earlier, too. You don’t have to be strong all the time.”

“Neither do you,” Ava shot back.

With that, her mind was made up.  Ava stood, abandoning her blueberries for a moment, and circled around the island to wrap her arms around Natasha.  Sharon had been free with hugs while she was traveling with Ava and the other girls. Natasha was not so free, but maybe Ava could be.  

Natasha hugged her back, and Ava was startled by the realization that she was taller than Natasha.  She put that aside for the moment, and pretended that Natasha wasn’t soaking her shirt with tears. 

That was fine, so long as Natasha ignored that Ava was doing the same to her hair.

* * *

 

_ Year Four _

Ava was not supposed to be here.  

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Rhodey said, echoing her thoughts.  He crossed his arms and frowned. “And I doubt Natasha sent you.”

“It is her fault for teaching me how to fly the quinjet,” Ava replied.  She checked herself over: gun holstered, knives sheathed, and with a few taser disks she had stolen from Natasha before leaving.

Rhodey sighed.  “I’m gonna have to tell Nat about this,” he warned.  “And the compound has other jets.”

“Go ahead,” Ava retorted.  “She will still take a while to get here.  In the meantime, I have a little bird to find.”

She took a few steps forward, but Rhodey caught her arm.  

“Don’t,” he warned.  “He’s not the same anymore.  You don’t know what you’re walking into.”

Ava pulled away.  “He left her,” she said, and this anger was familiar.  “I am going to drag him back on his ass, or I am going to kill him.”

This time, when she made to leave, Rhodey did not stop her.

They were in a neighborhood in St. Petersburg, one that had been mostly abandoned after the Decimation.  The empty streets no longer unnerved her the way they might have just after. There were almost always neighborhoods like it, in the cities that she and Natasha sometimes traveled to.  Ghost towns in the middle of what used to be bustling cities. 

It was nearing sundown.  The shadows helped hide her, so that her quarry wouldn’t see she was coming.

When Ava was still a block away from her target, she entered a nearby building.  She climbed the stairs to the roof, then crept along it, keeping crouched. The buildings were close enough together that she could leap between them with ease.  Once she got to the building where she knew her target would be, she silently eased open the door to the stairwell.

Only to find a sword at her throat.

“No sudden moves.”

Ava slowly raised her hands, showing that she held no weapons.  The man kept his hood up an his face covered, and with one hand he removed her belt along with most of her weapons.  Ava still had a knife in her boot, but getting it in time would be a challenge.

“You here the kill me?” Ronin demanded.

“Maybe,” Ava answered.  

The man once known as Clint Barton did not know her well.  He might have seen her once, back when she was first rescued from the Red Room, but it was doubtful he would recognize her now.  

“Who are you?” he asked, still keeping the sword up.  “Who sent you?”

“Ava Orlova,” she answered.  “And no one. I came because I wanted to.”

Barton snorted.  “Name doesn’t ring a bell, so you’re not a mercenary,” he said.  He regarded her for a long moment, then stepped back, though he did not sheathe his sword.  “Alright then,” he said. “What d’you want?”

Ava lowered her hands.  “I want you to come back to America with me,” she said.  

Barton froze, then pulled down his hood and the scarf covering his face.  “Who are you?” he asked again. “You don’t sound American.”

“That would be because I am not.”

“Then why America?”

Ava took a deep breath.  “Because Natasha misses you.  But she won’t go after you, for reasons I do not understand.”

Barton froze again, and for a moment Ava thought he was going to threaten her with the katana again.  He did not, though he did not relax either. Instead, he studied her intently, before his eyes widened.  

“Oh,” he said.  “You’re one of the Red Room kids.”

Ava stiffened.  “I am the only ‘Red Room kid’ left.”   _ Besides Natasha _ , she didn’t say.

Clint stared at her for a few seconds before he mumbled, “Ah shit.”

He paced for a few moments before rounding back on her.

“And what are you now?” he demanded.  “Making good on that training?”

“Fuck you,” Ava said calmly.

“Okay, well, guess not then,” Barton snorted.  “They wouldn’t have put up with that, would they?”

“Natasha hears about the things you do,” Ava said, ignoring that.  “And they make her unhappy. But for some reason she seems unable to stop you, or help you.  So I am bringing you back, or I am killing you.”

Barton raised both eyebrows.  “Pull the other one, kid.”

“You think I cannot beat you?”

“No, actually,” he said.  “Red Room training  _ and  _ training with Natasha?  I’m old. I know you’ve got a pretty good shot, even if I have a sword and all you have is that little knife in your boot.  No, I meant you’re not gonna kill me,  _ Red Widow _ .”

Ava blinked.

“What, you think I don’t hear the stories?” Clint asked.  “Black Widow and her little sidekick? The vigilante who wears a red hoodie, who takes to the streets of New York sometimes?  Everyone knows who you are. You don’t exactly bother hiding it. I just didn’t put it together until now. Thought it might be Wanda.”

“Why do you think I will not kill you?” Ava asked.  “I have killed before.”

Clint stopped pacing, and a pained look came over his face.

“I know,” he said.  “But I don’t think you will now.  You wanna be like Nat. And Nat’s been trying to be better for years - ergo, so are you.”

He was right, and Ava knew it.  Still, she said nothing. Did nothing.  

“Go on, then,” he said, dropping his sword.  “Kill me. You’re not taking me back there. I can’t face her like this.”

In one, smooth motion, Ava drew her knife from her boot.  She took a few steps forward. She knew she could easily sever his carotid; it wouldn’t even be that painful.  The motion would be mechanical. 

She did not move any further.

Clint laughed.  It was a broken sound.

“Yeah,” he said.  “I didn’t think so.”

He retrieved his sword, and turned around for the door to the staircase.  Before he could enter it, though, he paused. 

“You wanna know why Nat never came to find me herself?” he asked.  “Two reasons. One, she didn’t want to leave you. And two, later on, she didn’t want me around you.”

The door slammed behind him.

* * *

 

_ Year Five _

“Turkey’s in the oven,” Natasha announced, plopping down onto the couch next to Ava.  “You set the timer?”

Ava hummed.  “I’m just going to check the thermometer every so often.  It will be fine. Or so Google tells me.”

Kitchen Three was a bit more casual than Kitchen Two.  It had a sitting room attached, complete with a TV and - for the holidays - a Christmas tree.  Just a plastic one that they’d bought at the store, but Natasha and Ava had both decorated it with as many ornaments as they could get their hands on.

Ava stared at the TV, which was playing A Charlie Brown Christmas.  “Do you think anyone will come?” she asked.

Natasha’s shoulders slumped a bit.  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’d be nice, to have a few more people around this year.”

Christmases on the run had been scant affairs, but they had had their own charm.  All of the girls had made gifts for each other, and for Sharon, who did the same for them.  The ache at the thought had slowly eased over the last five years, and Ava was starting to finally hope that she could make something real of her life.

“Miss Romanoff, Miss Orlova,” said F.R.I.D.A.Y.  “You have visitors.”

Ava and Natasha exchanged glances.  “Let them in,” Natasha said. “Direct them to Kitchen Three please, F.R.I.D.A.Y.”

“Of course.”

It took a few minutes, but eventually the door to kitchen three opened, admitting Carol, Rhodey, Nebula, and Rocket.  

“Hi guys,” Carol said, smiling.  She held up a bag. “Um, I brought pie?”

“ _ I _ brought homemade stuffing,” Rhodey boasted, grinning and pecking Natasha on the cheek.

“Well, we can’t all be gourmet chefs,” Carol said.

“Pie is  _ absolutely  _ welcome,” Natasha said, standing to take it from her.  “As is stuffing. I’m salivating already.”

“Gross,” Ava teased.

Natasha smacked her shoulder playfully.  

“I don’t really get this holiday you humies have,” Rocket said, hopping up onto one of the armchairs.  “Or why you feeling like celebrating when it’s so friggin cold outside.”

“Neither do I,” Nebula said.  “But I was told there would be food.  And  _ I  _ at least helped pay for the pie.”

“Look, it’ll be an IOU,” Rocket replied.  “Right Danvers?”

Carol smirked from where she was leaning against the kitchen counter.  “Build me a new breathing apparatus, and then we’ll talk.”

“Normally I’d say no, but honestly?  I got nothing better to do.”

Rhodey’s gaze shifted over to Ava.  “Hey, Ava,” he said. “How are you?”

“Well, thank you,” Ava answered.  “Still unable to kick Natasha’s ass, to my eternal frustration.”

Natasha vaulted over the back of the couch to settle beside her again, grinning at her.  “Maybe one day.”

Ava snorted.  

Something eased in her chest as the six of them chatted.  Like a knot had been tied there five years ago and it was finally unraveling.  She did not see Carol, Nebula, or Rocket often, but she saw them enough that they were some of the only people she and Natasha had left.  That they were here tonight was... it was nice.

Someone knocked on the kitchen door frame.  It was Steve, this time. He smiled sheepishly and said, “I brought wine?”

“You brought alcohol and you phrased that sentence like a question?”  Natasha snorted. “Get in here, Rogers.”

Ava was not a particularly active participant in the conversation, but she was content to observe from her side of the couch, occasionally standing to check on the turkey.  Steve settled in on Natasha’s other side. 

“No Okoye?” he asked.

Carol was the one who shook her head.  “She’s spending time with her parents. She deserves it, all the work she’s been doing.  She said that she might visit for New Years, if Nat and Ava are up for it.”

Natasha shrugged.  “I’m game,” she said, glancing at Ava.

“It would be nice to see her,” Ava agreed.

Mack, Melinda, and Elena were next, all three of whom looked exhausted but were all sporting different varieties of pie.  Natasha took one look at the French Silk that Mack was carrying, looked into his eyes, and said very seriously, “I love you.”

Mack chuckled, putting the pie on the counter.  “Well, I’m flattered, but also spoken for.”

“I guess the one advantage of being a Turtle Man is that he has the patience for cooking and baking,” Elena quipped. 

Ava wondered if the compound had ever been this full, before.  She wondered if this was what it was like Before - before the Sokovia Accords, or before the Decimation.  She tried to imagine this place full of people like this, every day, always together, always laughing and enjoying one another’s company.  

She and Natasha had made it their mission to ensure that neither of them ate alone, over the years, but they had never had this before.  Or at least, she hadn’t. But then she thought of Sharon, and Katrine, and Vivian and Thea and knew that she did, once. She thought of her parents, and her friends at school, and wondered when that had become the life of someone else.

She got up to check the turkey again - only about ten, fifteen more minutes - before sitting back down next to Natasha.  This time, she leaned against her side, and Natasha didn’t even hesitate to put her arm around her.

Ava did not miss the envious, melancholic look that Melinda gave them.

Later, after food was eaten and the gathering quieted down a bit, Rhodey abruptly said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t persuade Tony to come.”

A hush fell over the room.  Ava frowned, looking down at her hands.  

“He’s spending Christmas with Pepper and Morgan,” Natasha said, shrugging.  Ava wondered if she was the only one who noticed the change her tone. “Can’t blame him for that.”

“He could’ve brought them along,” Rhodey pointed out.  “We told him it was fine.”

Ava twisted her hands together.  “He is not here,” she said. “Let us not dwell on it.”

“Aaaaaand the Red Widow has spoken,” Rocket said, raising his glass of wine to her.  “Look, it’s supposed to be a holiday, right? A celebration? Let’s not get all mopey now.  You humies know any good drinking games? Quill had that good one, the whatever have I done or what’s-it -”

“Never have I ever,” Steve and Carol said at the same time.  

“Yeah, that one.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call that a Christmas game,” Mack pointed out.  “Besides, Cap here will win by default, he can’t get drunk.”

“I’m game,” Melinda said suddenly.  She’d been quiet up until now. “We’re sleeping in the compound and heading back to the Lighthouse tomorrow anyway, so we might as well make the most of our time.”

Elena snorted.  “You just want to outdrink us all again.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny.”

Ava was not sure how Melinda managed to say all of that with a straight face.  

“Well, I can’t get drunk either,” Carol said.

“Same,” Natasha said.

Nebula grunted.  “My mechanical parts filter alcohol out of my system.”

Elena grimaced.  “I can, but it takes a lot more than normal.  My metabolism is high because of my ability.”

“Alright, alright, I get the picture,” Rocket said.  Apparently raccoons could roll their eyes. “We’re all a bunch of fuckin’ weirdos.  Who  _ can  _ get drunk?”

Ava, Rhodey, Melinda, and Mack raised their hands.  

“Ah shit, that’s less than half.”

“Yeah, and May shouldn’t really count,” Natasha said, sniggering.  “It’s literally impossible to drink her under the table. I know, I’ve tried.”

“Damn right,” Melinda muttered.

“See, now that sounds like a challenge,” Rocket said, leaning forward.  “How ‘bout it? You and me, May.”

The scene quickly devolved into teasing and boasting from all sides, with Steve recounting the time he’d tried Asgardian mead (and been ‘pleasantly buzzed’), Mack talking about the competitions he and Lance Hunter would occasionally have, and Natasha explaining about how she’d once gotten into a drinking game with Clint and that he’d passed out afterwards.

“That was before I knew I had help of the serum variety, though,” she added.  

Ava listened, and the knot in her chest loosened even further, until she was dozing with her head on Natasha’s shoulder.  She felt like she could finally believe that one day, someday, they would be happy again.

* * *

 

“Hey!   _ Hey _ !  It’s Scott Lang!”

And Ava’s world was overturned once more.

* * *

 

It felt like a rehash of their argument five years ago.  It certainly started the same way. 

“I want to go.”

Natasha shook her head.  “We only have so many Pym Particles,” she said.  “We’d be stretching our supply even thinner than before.  We don’t know if this’ll work, or if we’ll be trapped in the time we go to - “

“I don’t care,” Ava replied.  “I want to go. I  _ have  _ to go.”

“You really, really don’t,” Natasha said.  “We can do this, Ava. Please, you have to -”

“I have to  _ go _ ,” Ava interrupted, more forcefully.  “I am an Avenger.”

That stopped Natasha in her tracks.  She blinked, feeling like she was staring at Ava for the first time.  She took in the tac suit, the gun, the knives. The batons that Ava had only started using a couple of years ago.  The fact that Ava was now taller than her. The grim set of her mouth, the steel in her eyes. 

“We have been Avengers for four years,” Ava said, and Natasha realized that there were tears in her eyes.  “And apart from Rocket and Nebula, none of the rest of these people have! I am going. I am old enough. I am strong enough.  I am going.”

Natasha’s heart was pounding.  She didn’t know what she would do if - if -

But they both knew what it meant, to be an Avenger.  That was the lesson Ava learned, the first time she got hurt on one of their missions.  It was the goal that Ava so ardently clung to after the Decimation, the thing she had left to strive for.  She held on stubbornly, even when others seemed to see the title as pointless now. Ava understood. 

What right did Natasha have, to take this from her?

“Okay,” she breathed out, realizing that the eyes of the rest of the team were on them.  “Okay. But you’re on my team. You follow my orders, even if I’m ordering you to leave and come back here.  Got it?”

Ava slid into mission mode with ease.  “Understood.”

It was Tony who approached her just before they were due to leave, a concerned look on his face.  “You sure about this?” he asked, glancing at Ava. 

Natasha wasn’t sure, but she nodded anyway.  “She’s an Avenger,” she said, echoing Ava’s earlier words.  “She understands what that means.”

Tony sighed.  “Be nice if she didn’t have to.”

Natasha smirked a little bit.  “She’s the Red Widow. The Decimation took so much away from her.  She could’ve done worse than deciding to save people.”

Tony’s shoulders slumped, and Natasha knew that he was thinking of Parker.  “I know.”

Steve called for them, and they all gathered in a circle on the platform.  Natasha and Ava stood side by side, aiming for Morag on 2014. They would be the ones going to Vormir.  Nebula and Rhodey were next to them, as they had the same destination. Bruce, Tony, Steve, Clint, and Scott were heading for 2012 New York.  Thor and Rocket were off to 2013 Asgard.

“Remember,” Steve said.  “We have one trip there, and one trip back.  And that’s it. So be careful. Don’t mess up.  Get the stones, get back here. That’s it.”

Before they could make the jump, Ava grabbed Natasha’s hand a squeezed quickly, shooting her a small smile.

“Go.”

* * *

 

Vormir gave Natasha chills - and not in a good way.  Then again, given her career choice, any chills she got were rarely a good thing.  She and Ava let the Benatar hover over the surface for a little while, both unable to take their eyes off it.

“Suddenly I do not wish to go down there,” Ava finally said.

“You’re telling me,” Natasha muttered.

Eventually, though, she forced her hands to move, setting the Benatar down on the surface near a tall mountain.  The planet was silent, and there was nothing apart from a cold breeze that seemed to cut right through her tac suit.  Ava followed her only a bit more slowly; Natasha didn’t think she was imagining the trepidation in her steps. 

“I don’t like this,” she said aloud.  She’d had a churning feeling in her gut ever since Nebula told them about Vormir and what Thanos had done to her sister, Gamora.  It only got worse, the closer they got to the mountain.

“I think I would rather be fighting weapons cartel members again,” Ava said.

They both came to a stop at the foot of the mountain.  After glancing at one another, they wordlessly started the climb up.  At least whoever had left the soul stone here had put a path up in place, otherwise it would be even worse.  

Natasha took point, with Ava following behind.  A click behind her told Natasha that Ava had drawn her gun and disabled the safety.  Her heart twisted for a moment, wondering not for the first time if she had done the right thing - training Ava, letting her fight beside her.  After the Red Room, Ava had deserved a normal life, not... this.

But in the end, it had been Ava’s choice, not hers.  Natasha refused to take that from her.

By the time they reached the top, Ava was breathing harder.  Natasha wasn’t, but she was still relieved that they’d made it.

“Natasha, daughter of Ivan.”

Natasha was very careful not to let her reaction show.  Ava, on the other hand, aimed her gun at the cloaked figure that floated into view.  

The thing sighed.  “That will not affect me, Ava, daughter of Ty.”

Ava paused, then holstered her gun.  “That is my adoptive father’s name.”

The entity (Natasha didn’t know what else to call it) didn’t answer that.  Instead, it said, “You seek the soul stone. It is my curse to guide you to it.  But beware the price it demands.”

Natasha glanced at Ava, hoping against hope that she kept her face expressionless.  The entity’s words all but confirmed her suspicions, but she didn’t want to give it away to Ava.  Ava merely looked wary. Good. That meant that she didn’t fully understand yet.

They followed the entity to a cliff.  The edge of the cliff was neatly carved out of the rock, as though it was some sort of altar.  Natasha put up an arm to keep Ava from getting too close. Her gut churned.

“Alright,” she said.  “What’s the price?”

“Tell us so that we can be done with this place,” Ava added.

“You must lose that which you love.”

There was a pause.  A  _ long  _ one.  Then -

“You knew,” Ava accused, rounding on her.  “You knew before we even left!”

“I suspected,” Natasha corrected.  

“So, what, you are - going to ask me to push you off?”  Ava’s face was ashen. “You cannot ask me to do that. I  _ cannot  _ do that.”

“I’m not asking,” Natasha said.  “But don’t worry. You won’t have to push me.”

Ava’s eyes widened, but before she could move Natasha flung one of her taser disks at her, dropping her to the ground.  Natasha turned around and ran, sprinting for the edge of the cliff.

But before she could get there, she felt a jolt in her leg.  She went down on one knee, skidding to a stop a few feet away from the cliff’s edge.  Behind her, she could hear stiff but steady footsteps. 

“No!” she yelled, pure fear giving her a burst of adrenaline.  Just as Ava ran past her and off the cliff’s edge, she forced herself up and jumped after her.  They were level as they fell through the air. Time seemed to slow, as she knew it would, because only one of them had a serum.  Only one of them could react in time. 

She twisted, shooting a grapple back up to the top of the cliff.  In the same moment, she unhooked the cable from her belt and hooked it onto Ava’s, getting a brief look at her face as she did so.  If that was the last thing she saw, she could be happy with this. 

_ I’m sorry, _ she thought, and closed her eyes.

* * *

 

Ava winced as she sat down on the couch in Kitchen Three, thinking of last Christmas with an ugly ache in her gut.  How could this happen, again? How many more times was she going to lose everyone?

She looked down at the Stark phone she held in her hands.  Barton had passed it to her wordlessly after she had arrived (alone) back at the compound, soul stone in hand.  He had been expressionless as he did so, which made Ava want to punch him. The others were conferring over the gauntlet, but Ava couldn’t be in there.  She couldn’t stomach the sight of the soul stone. 

Taking a deep breath, she turned on the phone.  A hologram flickered into place.

“Ava.”

Natasha’s hair was red, with blond tips.  Which made it a recent recording.

“I have a bad feeling, about Vormir.”   _ Very  _ recent, then.  “What Nebula said... I think I know what has to be done there.  And it’s nothing good. And I... have a feeling you might hate me, by the time you watch this.

“But listen: you were right.  You’re an Avenger now. You belong on this team.  You might not know any of these people, but if all goes well, you will.  You’ll get your family and friends back and then some.” Natasha cracked a smile.  “None of the others figured it out, so it has to be me. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so damn smart.  Ah, well.”

A pause, a shaky breath.  “There’s not enough time to record a message for everyone,” she said.  “But... if you could let the others know - Rhodey, and Okoye and Carol and the rest - how grateful I am, for everything they’ve done for the last five years.  And... tell Sharon that I love her. That a big, selfish part of me wishes I’ll be alive to see her again.

“Anyway... Ava, listen to me.  You have a good heart - one of the best.  This is going to hurt - again - and I hate the thought of hurting you even more, but I know you’ll be okay.  You’ll have so many people who’ll love you. I know I do.”

Natasha smiled again, but this time it was softer.  “Go out there and live for me, okay kiddo?”

‘Kiddo’ was what Sharon had called her.  Ava looked down at the red hoodie that she’d torn her room apart to find after she’d gotten out of that terrible time travel suit.  She wrapped her arms around herself and started at nothing as the recording ended, leaving her in the darkened room.

Wait, why was it dark - ?

* * *

 

Sharon wished she could say that she’d had worse wakeup calls, but truthfully?  This one really was the worst. 

She blinked, taking in her surroundings.  The other girls were all here, all looking as confused as she was.  Wait, no, not everyone was there. Sharon’s heart began to pound. 

“Ava?” she asked.  The girls shook their heads.

“She is not here,” Katrine said.  

“Shit,” Sharon hissed.  She fumbled for her phone, silently thanking Stark for the fact that it didn’t need charging, and flipped through her contacts until she came across “Hoodie”, which was Ava’s codename among them.

The phone rang, and rang, and Ava didn’t pick up.  

Something was wrong.  Sharon didn’t know what it was.  They’d been dissolving into nothing, and now they were back, and something was fundamentally  _ wrong _ .  She was about to venture outside to try and call Ava again when she caught sight of the date on her phone.

She blanched.

“Girls,” she said, keeping her voice level.  “It’s 2023.”

* * *

 

Sharon, thankfully, was saved from having to figure out a way to transport eighteen teenagers (almost adults, now) across the country.  Some guy showed up and made a portal for them (Sharon filed that under her list of things to never think about again), which took them straight to ground zero of what looked like the apocalypse at first glance.  

There were people milling around, sifting through the debris, and Sharon recognized some of them.  She saw Barton, perched on top of a broken slab of concrete, with a thousand yard stare. She saw Barnes and Wilson and Rogers, all of whom were lying on the ground near each other, looking exhausted.  Pepper and the Spider kid were gathered around... oh  _ shit _ ...

“Sharon?”

The voice made Sharon whirl around, and for a moment she couldn’t recognize the woman in front of her.  But then the brown hair registered - longer than it had been, pulled into a low ponytail. She was wearing a battered tac suit, was holding a knife with blue blood on it.  

Christ, she looked so much  _ older _ .

“Ava?” Sharon whispered.

Ava fell to her knees, her knife falling into the dirt beside her.  There were scratches on her cheek, and bags beneath her eyes. She was more muscled, and now Sharon could see the batons strapped to her back.

Sharon knelt down in front of her.  “What happened?” she asked.

Ava let out a chuckle.  “I should feel relieved,” she said.  At least her accent hadn’t changed. “But I do not.”

“Ava -”

“Natasha is dead.”

Sharon remembered making that call, just before she and the others had... dissolved, or whatever it was.  Her traitorous brain had imagined how it would feel for Natasha to really be gone, forever, in the event that whatever battle she was fighting was too much for her.  It had kept her from going to sleep right away, because it felt like a black void in her chest.

But  _ this  _ -

(It wasn’t like Sharon had never dealt with this before.  Natasha’s lynchpin in her plan to track down the Red Room had involved Yelena killing her.  And then Yelena had almost killed her  _ again _ , after Sharon had been captured.  Sharon thought she was familiar with Natasha’s relationship with death.)

Sharon steeled herself.  “How?”

Ava opened her mouth, only to be cut off.  

“I’ll tell her, Ava.”  It was Steve, who also looked so much older.  “You shouldn’t have to tell it twice.”

“I was the one who was there,” Ava argued.

“I know.  That’s why you shouldn’t have to tell it again.”

“Let her do what she needs to do, Steve.”  That was Sam, who (while he looked tired) didn’t look like he’d aged, not in the way that Steve and Ava did.  Sam put his arm around Steve’s shoulders and steered him away. 

Sharon started looking around the battlefield, dreading seeing Natasha’s body lying prone somewhere - still, in a way that she never was when she was alive.

“You won’t find her,” Ava said, swallowing.  “I looked for it, after... but it wasn’t where it should’ve been.”

Sharon realized that the girls were still behind her, and turned around to check on them.  They were sitting now, all stunned by the devastation around them. Sharon swallowed, then turned back to Ava, shifting herself until she was sitting too.  Ava didn’t move from her kneeling position; Sharon noted that Ava was taller than her like this.

Ava was five years older than any of her compatriots.  Her friends. Her sisters.

Sharon listened attentively as Ava explained everything, starting with the Decimation, where half of all living beings in the universe disappeared because one person decided that it ‘had to be done’.  Sharon felt nauseous as the scale of it hit her, and she wondered how many people had died in the aftermath, and how prepared the world was for the return of those people, five years later.

Ava spoke little of those five years, only saying that (since her parents were caught in it as well), she stayed at the Compound with Natasha, and that she had been an Avenger for three of those.  She explained that Scott Lang showed up one day and proposed an idea: that the Avengers could use time travel to retrieve the Infinity Stones and reverse the Decimation.

And she explained about Vormir.  How she had fought Natasha to be the one to sacrifice herself, until Natasha bested her (as Natasha had a tendency to do).  How she ended up with the soul stone. How Natasha couldn’t be brought back, like Sharon and the others were.

When Ava fell silent, Sharon leaned forward and pulled her into a hug.  She couldn’t even start to process her own feelings yet, how such a huge part of her life was  _ gone  _ and she wasn’t even around for it.

Ava, however, seemed to finally break, as dry sobs overtook her.  Sharon held her and didn’t move. She didn’t even breathe, really.  She felt like stone.

Finally, Ava quieted down, then pulled back, wincing as she did so.  At Sharon’s concerned look, she said, “Broken ribs. The compound collapsed on us.  Sort of.”

Sharon gave her a shadow of a smile.  “I think you need to call your parents, Ava,” she said, realizing that she couldn’t call her ‘kiddo’ anymore.  “I think you need to talk to them, too. They should be back, right?”

Ava nodded.  She looked utterly drained.  Sharon heard footsteps, and then Katrine walked past her and sat beside Ava.  Neither of them spoke, though Ava leaned on Katrine. Eventually they both got up together, so they could find a phone that Ava could use.

Sharon stayed seated, and didn’t move for a long, long time.

* * *

 

Stark’s funeral wasn’t a grandiose affair, but there were still a fair amount of people in attendance.  Sharon and Ava were there; Sharon still had fond memories of Stark from when Natasha was on the original team of Avengers, and Ava had met him a few times during the five year interim, as well as interacting with him when they were trying to reverse the Decimation.  

The rest of the girls, after promising one another to keep in touch, had decided to leave in order to try to get in touch with their families.  They left in pairs, but they were legally adults now, and better able to take care of themselves than most. Sharon took some consolation in the knowledge that even if the girls didn’t find their parents, they would have someone.  That, and they were invited by Pepper to stay at Stark Tower if they needed to.

Who would’ve thought that Stark Tower would end up becoming the Avengers Tower once again.

Tony’s service was beautiful, but Sharon couldn’t muster herself to feel much of anything besides some regret.  She hadn’t been happy with him since the Accords, but she regretted that she never got to see him again. 

After the service was over, Sharon found herself with an unusual group of people in one of the Stark household’s rooms.  She and Ava sat in one corner. Okoye from Wakanda was standing near the door, almost like she was keeping watch. Steve was by the window.  Rhodey was in another corner. The blue alien named Nebula, and the talking raccoon were standing by the wall. Carol Danvers (Sharon didn’t know her story, but she was curious) was standing on the other side of the doorframe.

“Natasha’s service is tomorrow,” Okoye finally said.

Carol nodded.  “Yeah, and I don’t think we need to have it here.  We should go somewhere else. Somewhere that was hers.”

“The Compound?” Nebula suggested.  

“With it being in ruins?” Rhodey said.  “I dunno if that’s a good idea.”

Nebula shrugged.  “It was definitely hers.”

“If I may suggest,” Ava said.  All eyes turned to her, including Sharon’s.  Ava was speaking with an authoritative note that Sharon immediately knew came from Natasha.  “We frequently visited Hettersville, the town near the compound. There was a park there. It was nice.  We would walk there sometimes.”

“That has my vote,” Steve said, speaking up for the first time.  He sounded hoarse. “She liked Hettersville, and that park.”

“Who all’s coming?” Rocket asked.

“I got a terse text from Melinda saying that she was coming to the service so I’d better tell her where it is,” Carol said.  “So that probably means her, Mack, and Elena. Jessica Jones said she would too, once she found out what had happened.”

“There are probably plenty of people who were brought back who would like to be there,” Okoye added.  “My king has requested that he be able to attend.”

“Bucky and Sam will want to,” Steve said.  

“Anybody who’s left from the original Avengers team,” Sharon added, startled by how hoarse her voice was.  She cleared her throat. “Bruce and Clint, especially. Thor too. Fury, probably. And -”

She cut herself off before she could say the name unthinkingly.  Who knew if  _ she  _ would want to go to Natasha’s funeral.  Who knew if she’d even been part of the Decimation, or if she’d died during the five year interim.

“Clint’s family,” she said, trying to cover her hesitation.  “They loved her, too.”

As they wrapped up their plans for the next day, figuring out how they were all going to get to the small town, they started filing out of the room.  Sharon and Ava were the last two to leave. Before she could, though, Steve stopped her at the door.

“How’re you holding up?” he asked quietly.

Ava glanced between them, then slipped out of the room.  

Sharon sighed.  “I don’t really know,” she said.  “On the one hand, it doesn’t feel  _ real _ .  It’s like I went to sleep for a while and woke up and she was gone - I guess you have some experience with that.”

Steve chuckled wryly, but his eyes were pained.  “Some.”

“But on the other hand... this is exactly the kind of stupid, noble self-sacrifice she’d pull.  She always thought more quickly. She always understood before everyone else did. I wish I could hate her for it, but...”

“I know what you mean.”

“She always seemed indestructible,” Sharon said.  “I guess really this is the only way she could’ve...”

Her stomach churned, and she failed to complete that sentence.  The idea that Natasha could’ve  _ wanted  _ to die, all this time, even years after Barton saved her in Budapest.  The idea that Yelena was even close to being right. It was all so, so  _ wrong _ .

_ "Did you want to die?" Sharon asked. "I need to know. And I needed to know badly enough that I knew I wouldn't be able to stop myself from asking the next time I saw you. And I wasn't sure I could stand it if you said yes. So… I just didn't see you." _

_ "No." Natasha had a definite answer for that. "I didn't want to die. I don't want to die, Sharon. There were moments, years ago… but I know that it's never that easy. I did, however, accept that I might not be able to get out of this alive. There's a difference." _

Sharon shook her head.   _ Tell me you weren’t lying to me, _ she prayed silently.

There was no answer.

* * *

 

Sharon awoke in her motel room to a knife at her throat.

“What happened?” Yelena hissed.

Sharon was starting to lose count of the times she’d been in this position.  She didn’t dare to move a muscle, aware that Yelena didn’t need much provocation before she started acting violent, but before she could speak, someone else did.

“Step away from her,” Ava said, “Or I will shoot you.”

Yelena glanced over to her right side, huffing out a little laugh.  “Your threats do not scare me, little one.”

“I am not little.”

Yelena cocked her head to the side.  “No, I suppose you are not.” Slowly, she released Sharon, getting up off the bed and raising her hands.  Ava was standing near the door to the room, in her pajamas, with her gun in her hand. 

Yelena’s eyes darted from Ava to Sharon.  “They are saying Natasha is dead,” she said.  “I do not believe it. She has been dead before.”

“It’s true,” Ava said.  “I watched it happen.”

Yelena’s gaze became fixed on her, assessing, and it was that that made Sharon tense up for the first time.  But Yelena didn’t move, and after a long moment she only said, “You have broken ribs. You cannot beat me.”

“I know that I could not beat you even if I did not have broken ribs,” Ava countered.  “But I think you will not kill me. And I think you will not kill Sharon, either.”

Yelena said something in Russian, which Ava replied to.  It was too fast for Sharon to follow, even with the lessons Natasha had been giving her before -

Before Leipzig.  It had been before Leipzig.  It took everything Sharon had to keep herself from doubling over, gasping for breath as that hit her.  

_ How long? _ she thought wildly.   _ More years apart than we had together.  Fuck. _

Nevermind that five of those years felt like a blink, to her.  They happened. Ava was proof.

“Sharon?”

She shook herself.  Ava was staring at her in concern.  

“I’m okay,” she assured her.  She looked at Yelena, who had retreated to the corner of the room and was leaning against the wall, her arms folded.  Her knife had vanished.

“What do you want to know?” Sharon asked.

Everything, as it turned out.  Sharon explained it all as it had been explained to her, silently confirming that Yelena had been among those caught in the Decimation.  While she spoke, Ava finally put her gun back on her bedside table, but she was still tense, like she was waiting for Yelena to attack. Sharon had to wonder what prompted that, especially since Ava used to be curious about Yelena.

After she finished her explanation, Yelena nodded once.

“Come on, then,” she said.  “We need to speak to Dr. Banner.”

“Seriously?” Sharon said.  “It’s like... 3AM.”

Ava, however, asked, “What for?”

Yelena snorted.  “To ask for the soul stone, and the ability to go to Vormir in 2014.  We are getting Natalia back.”

“Bruce said it was not possible,” Ava said.  Her face was white as a sheet.

“Dr. Banner is a fool,” Yelena countered.  “If he had listened to you, he might have realized that the soul stone’s guardian said, ‘a soul for a soul’.  So what, then, do you think happens if you return the soul stone?”

Sharon exchanged glances with Ava, unable to stop the tiniest spark of hope from flaring in her chest.  She couldn’t even muster suspicion towards Yelena for being so insistent on getting Natasha back.

But it wasn’t Sharon who had spent the last five years at Natasha’s side.  She looked at Ava.

“What do you think?” she asked.

Ava’s hands were shaking.  She took a deep breath, let out a shuddering exhale, and then squared her shoulders.  She looked at Sharon, and gave a single nod.

* * *

 

“I mean - we can make you suits, and you’ll have Pym Particles,” Bruce said.  Sharon still couldn’t get used to him speaking like he normally did, only as the green version of himself.  “But... can it really be that simple? Do we risk undoing what we fixed if we try to get Natasha back?”

“I will make it that simple,” Yelena said, scowling.

They were back at the Tower, now, inside Bruce’s old lab.  Pym and Bruce had been working on making more Pym Particles so that Steve could make the trip to return the Infinity Stones.  

“Hey, no offense, Belova, but you don’t exactly have the greatest reputation among us right now,” Clint countered.  Steve was hanging back a bit further, a frown on his face. Thor wasn’t speaking either, but he looked more hopeful than the rest.

“She’s coming with us,” Sharon said.  “If only because we’re keeping an eye on her.  I’ve dealt with her before.”

“Yeah, except one of you has a super soldier serum, and the other doesn’t,” Bruce pointed out.  “Plus... Sharon, I tried, I really did. I tried to get Nat back. But... if she were back she’d be here, wouldn’t she?  I willed her  _ here _ .  If she’s not here then that means...”

“It means you have to barter with the soul stone,” Yelena snapped.  “I know a thing or two about deals. What do you know?”

“Enough to know that this might not be the best idea,” Bruce argued.  “Steve’s going to return the stones. If he somehow gets Nat back when he goes to Vormir?  Then great!”

Yelena waved her hand dismissively.  “He can take the rest,” she said. “I do not care.  But we are taking the soul stone. I may not have the right, but 248 and Sharon certainly do.  248 wants me to go as well.”

“My name is Ava,” Ava murmured, but she was ignored.

“You think we didn’t care for Nat, too?” Clint asked.  “Everyone in this room loved her! Everyone wishes they could be the one to say goodbye.  Steve was closer to her than most. Fuck, we had her funeral yesterday, and now you’re dredging this up?”

“If you loved her,” Ava said, a bit more loudly, “why did you never come home?”

“I’m sorry,” Bruce said.  “But Vormir is dangerous, and I really think Steve stands the best chance.  Plus I don’t buy your story, Belova.”

“Sharon,” Steve said, speaking up for the first time.  “I promise, I’ll try to find a way to bring her back. I can do that much.”

“If you loved her,” Ava shouted, “why did you never come home?”

The room fell silent.  Everyone turned to look at Ava at the same time.  She was standing tall, with her chin inclined, glaring at everyone in the room.  

“All of you,” she said.  “Sharon and Yelena notwithstanding.  Natasha loved you. She told me so. But she and I were the ones who kept going, who stayed together, while the rest of you fucked off to who-knows-where.  Steve barely gets a pass - he at least visited. But did he stay? No!”

Thor opened his mouth for the first time.  Ava silenced him with a glare. 

“I am taking the soul stone to Vormir,” she said.  “If any of you try to stop me, I will have Yelena stop you.”  

Yelena looked completely unbothered by the idea.

“She and Sharon are coming with me, and we are going to bring Natasha back with us.”

She met the eyes of everyone in the room.

“Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Steve finally answered, nodding.  Bruce nodded as well. Clint looked chastised. Thor looked... happier than the rest of them, at least.  

“I’ll... get to work on the suits, then,” Bruce said.  “And ask Hank about making Pym Particles for you all.”

“I am glad that this is settled,” Ava said coolly.  She turned and marched out of the room, Yelena only pausing a moment before following her.  Sharon shared a glance with Steve, who only looked concerned, before she too showed herself out.

* * *

 

Vormir was hell.

Yelena could feel it in her bones.  There were always certain places that felt like hell.  The abandoned Red Room facility underneath the museum in Moscow.  Hydra bases were almost always another. Sokovia after Ultron. Upstate New York after Thanos.  Vormir was both watchful eyes and stillness, a place that silently judged all who passed and found them wanting.

The fact that this was supposed to be Natalia’s final resting place made Yelena want to laugh.  Neither of them had believed in heaven, but they believed in hell.

As they climbed the mountain, Yelena only felt certainty.  Certainty that she was taking the correct action, for once in her life.  Certainty that this would work in the way that she intended. Certainty that everything was where it was supposed to be - Ava cradled the soul stone in her hands, Sharon buried her near-palpable grief under determination.  

Certainty was a new feeling.  Nothing had been certain for a very long time.  Not for Yelena.

They ascended until they reached hell’s altar, and were greeted by a familiar face.

“Welcome Yelena, daughter of Anatoly,” the Red Skull said.  Yelena dismissed the name. She did not know it. “Welcome Sharon, daughter of Harrison.  And welcome Ava. Back so soon?”

“I think you are smart enough to know it has been longer for me,” Ava replied.

The Red Skull stared at the three of them.  Yes, Yelena could believe him to be the face of the devil.  Hell, again.

“You come to return the soul stone,” he said.  

“An exchange,” Ava said.  “Not a return.”

Yelena stepped forward, intent on not giving Sharon or Ava time to speak.  “I would bargain with it,” she said. “There is a way to do so, yes?”

Schmidt snorted.  “The soul stone does not bargain.”

“It does with me,” Yelena said.  “We are returning it, as you said.  I am guessing that not many who come to claim it have done so before.  So there must be something we can get back, yes? And if simply doing so is not enough, then I have something I can trade for Natalia.”

Schmidt did not reply.  His gaze became faraway, as though he were hearing a voice, and then Ava gasped.

Yelena whirled around, in time to see the orange of the soul stone brighten, intensifying more and more until it almost became too much to bear.  Yelena attempted to shield her eyes, aware of the alarmed yells from both Ava and Sharon, and -

* * *

 

“ _ So.  You want to bargain with me? _

_ “Oh... I see.  You think yourself unworthy of the gift of life, in spite of the number of times you have been returned from death.  I suppose you must think it a noble cause. And you are willing to pay the price? You would remain here, in her stead. _

_ “You  _ are  _ willing!  Fascinating.  But now I have to wonder... is it the right path?  It certainly seems like the easy path. But Natasha Romanoff chose to live, again and again, so that she could keep helping people whenever she could.  The reason her choice to die was a sacrifice was because she didn’t want to, but did so anyway.  _

_ “Can I accept this, in spite of that?  Probably. But of course, Yelena Belova, the real question is... can she?” _

* * *

 

Natasha opened her eyes.

The burnt orange sky, with no sun, was familiar.  It was the backdrop she saw whenever she turned her head too quickly for her vision to catch up.  The water that now lapped at her ankles was familiar as well, a sensation she recognized in her dreams.  

Time made little sense.  It felt like she was living her life out again, all at once, and that she had always somehow known she would end up here.  Just like she had always somehow known that the woman across from her would be here, too.

“Yelena?” she said.  “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Yelena folded her arms.  She was wearing one of the time travel suits.  “Neither are you,” she pointed out. 

“Yes, I am,” Natasha said.  “I made the choice. I am the sacrifice.  I’m the lynchpin. Everyone who vanished is back because I’m still in here.”

“What if you did not have to be?” Yelena pressed.  “What if you could go back home, to Sharon, and Ava?”

Natasha had always been a quick thinker.  She could connect the dots at lightning speed when she was alive, and that ability not been diminished in death.  Yelena was here. Yelena was inside the soul stone. Yelena intended to stay in Natasha’s place because she believed that she didn’t know how to live without the Red Room.

Natasha’s gut twisted.  “No,” she said.

“No?”

“No.”  Natasha set her jaw.  “I know I already said this to you once, but I will  _ stay dead _ if it means you get to live for yourself.”

“This is not death!” Yelena yelled.  “This is hell, and you and I both know it, Natalia!  We know what hell feels like, and this is it! You are  _ not  _ staying here!”

“Neither are you!”

They were both breathing heavily.  Natasha found herself struggling to get a grip on her emotions.  Yelena looked like she was five seconds away from decking her in the face.  She had the same desperate look on her face that she’d had when she tried to plunge a knife through her own chest.

“It would appear we are at a stalemate,” Yelena finally said.  “This seems familiar.”

Natasha frowned, a thought niggling at her.  “Why didn’t the soul stone just accept your offer?” she asked.  “It doesn’t seem to mind doing the soul tradeoff thing.”

Yelena paused, and a haunted look came over her face.  “It wanted me to speak to you first,” she said. “But it will take me, if you agree.”

_ It wouldn’t do that, _ Natasha thought wildly.   _ It wouldn’t, unless... _

“I know what we can give it.”

* * *

 

Sharon wasn’t sure what she was expecting.

The soul stone sat on the ground, inert.  The wraith (was it the Red Skull? Sharon wasn’t sure) had instructed her and Ava not to touch it, stating that what happened in there was the business of the soul stone now.  Sharon almost ignored him, but a warning look from Ava had her sitting down on a nearby rock, not taking her eyes off the stone.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the stone began to glow again.  As it had before, the glow intensified, before suddenly receding, leaving behind two figures lying on the ground.  

Two inert figures.  One blond, and the other...

“Nat?” Ava called hoarsely.  She took a few tentative steps forward, as though afraid to come any closer.  “Natasha?”

A muffled groan came from the redheaded one.  Sharon felt like she was frozen completely solid for one second, and then she broke, hurrying forward and falling to her knees beside Natasha.  Natasha rolled over, groaning again, looking like she was immensely hungover.

“Ugh,” she grumbled.  “This is really gonna suck.”

“You do not have to tell me twice,” Yelena said.

Looking around, Sharon realized that both the soul stone and the Red Skull had vanished.  Whatever had taken place in the soul stone, it had ended with the return of the soul stone... and it had ended with Natasha alive, and with them.  

Yelena was the first to sit up, though she nearly fell back over.  “I am going to have a headache for  _ weeks _ ,” she complained.

“Wait, what happened?” Sharon asked.  Ava looked about as curious as she felt.

Yelena only let out a noise of disgust, rolling onto her side and away from them.  Natasha had somehow pulled herself into Sharon’s lap, and Sharon couldn’t stop the warmth that she felt at finally,  _ finally  _ having Natasha back.

Back for good, she realized.  Neither of them had to be on the run anymore.  They could stay together, instead of just meeting up for a few days at a time, with months in between.  She grabbed Natasha’s hand and squeezed it.

“Stone wanted a price,” Natasha slurred.  “Wasn’t gonna let it take Yelena. Gave it our serums instead.”

Sharon’s jaw dropped.

Natasha twisted around a little bit, reaching for Ava, who pulled both her and Sharon into a hug.  There were tears streaming down her face, and Sharon realized that it was the first time she’d seen Ava cry -  _ really  _ cry - since she’d come back.  

“I don’t hate you,” Ava sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” Natasha whispered.

Ava only sobbed harder.

It took a little while for them all to get themselves sorted out - there was a lot of hugging and crying while Yelena rolled her eyes at them.  Finally, they activated their suits, aiming for the platform back in 2023.

The shouts and tears of relief they were met with were well worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably write a short little coda to this, just to establish what happens to them (Natasha, Ava, Sharon, and Yelena) after. But this was already getting long, and I felt like this was a good place to stop.


End file.
